1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bail arm supporting mechanism of a fishing reel, and more particularly to a bail arm supporting mechanism of a fishing reel including a link member having a large-diameter connecting portion for supporting and connecting one end of a bail arm and a support shaft portion to be connected to an arm lever, and a bush and a freely rotatable line guide roller to be fitted one after another in the mentioned order on the support shaft portion.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical conventional bail arm construction of the above-described type is shown in FIG. 4. In this construction, the large-diameter portion 9b', for connecting the bail 8', of the link member 9' is formed as a solid structure; whereas, the bush 10' is constructed as a circular cylinder structure to be fitted on the support shaft portion 9a' which is formed also cylindrical. This support shaft portion 9a' has its base end connected to an arm lever 7a' by means of a screw 17' and a line roller 11' is rotatably fitted on the bush 10'.
Further, the large-diameter portion 9b' is provided for smoothly and reliably guiding a line delivered from the spool through one end of the bail onto the line roller. Generally, the bail and the large-diameter portion, which are subjected to a significant line tension, is formed of metallic material, and also the large-diameter portion is formed as a solid structure for firmly connecting and supporting the bail. Accordingly, the heavy weight of these portions tend to impair the total weight balance of the entire bail arm supporting mechanism. With such imbalance of weight, in the course of high-speed line winding operation, there tends to occur vibration of the rotary axis, which is transmitted to and vibrates the fishing rod as well.
Further, since the bush provided for smooth line roller rotation is formed as a cylindrical structure, there occurs relative rotation through sliding contact between the line roller and the bush as well as between the bush and the support shaft portion. Consequently, any difference between the above two kinds of sliding contact resistances may render the rotation of the line roller unstable; and this unstable line roller rotation provides the user with an uncomfortable `jerky` feeling.
The present invention intends to overcome these problems of the prior art through rational improvement of the bail arm supporting mechanism.